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Saturday, July 23, 2011

I've made a living with words my entire professional life. I am often disappointed with the limitations of expressiveness of the written word as we most often use it today.

Most of us are limited, when we type, to expressing tone with bold faceor italics. I might underline for emphasis or combine what's available.

I might be rude and SHOUT with caps.

I might go really wild and use a different color or pointsize.

In the end though, my attempts often fall short of the tone I am trying to convey. I come across as amateurish and the nuances of spoken language are lost.

But who has the time to write by hand any more?
And writing by hand is not great for editing, or producing longer works.

Back in the day, I used to work at a company that printed wedding and other invitations. I could identify fonts by sight. I could tell you by name if it was a serif or sans serif font. But sadly, that's as far as my ability with type goes. I'm more the wordsmith and proofreader. I can tell you when something is wrong with type. Whereas my sister has the gift for design.

It's something of a family tradition. Our grandfather worked in printing. It's nice to know we both carry that on in one way or another. I recently told a friend that I am genetically predisposed to reject broken type.

This bit of design envy I have concerning the limitations at my end of the medium is why I've been enjoying a blog I came across this morning.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

I am so very thrilled with the results of my second session of lessons at the New York/New Jersey Academy of Ceramic Art. I made nine pieces this session. Most of them are gifts so this first shot is the last time they were all together in one place.

I made this one for my mother. (I need a better picture.) The dogwood flower was added as an applique. I applied latex to the flowers and stem before the initial glazing. Then I removed the latex and painted the flower and stem with glaze.

In over my head.

Back in my early 30s, if you told me what I'd be doing today, I would have said you were crazy.

Back then, I was stuck in a dead-end job, contemplating life as the crazy lady with cats. Now I'm married to my very best friend, I have a day job I like, I work from home, run my own business on the side, I teach, and I get paid to fool around on the internet. (Oh and I still have the cats!)

I'm juggling more than I ever thought I'd handle. I'm often in over my head and I'm loving it!

When my husband taught me to scuba dive, I found out that some of the coolest things to see are in the first 30 feet of water, where you can still see the light above, but you're deep enough to be completely immersed in another world.

This blog is a love letter to my life. Who knew being in over my head could be so much fun?